Live-In Maid (Cama adentro)

Laura Clifford

Robin Clifford

Beba Pujol (Norma Aleandro, "The Official Story," "Son of the Bride")
is a proud, once wealthy woman struggling to accept the downturn of her financial
situation in an economically depressed Buenos Aires. The whisky she
drinks too much of only temporarily masks the problem. Her real support
comes from the endurance of her thirty year relationship with her "Live In
Maid."

Laura:
Writer/director Jorge Gaggero has created a complex, emotionally true, two
handed character study with riveting performances from the much heralded
and Oscar nominated veteran Aleandro and first timer Norma Argentina as Dora,
the stoic maid. The contrast between the always dignified Dora, who
is beginning to chafe against her unpaid wages, and Beba, crumbling inside
while trying to maintain her own perceived persona exemplifies the changes
in relationships when the power base shifts.

Dora, whose expression rarely flickers, goes about her daily grind, which
includes surreptitiously filling imported whisky bottles with the local stuff,
yet becomes more vocal about her wages. Beba makes elaborate excuses,
then, hidden behind giant sunglasses, tries to pawn a teapot. A new
job selling cosmetic facial masques provides initial hope, but her desperation
becomes more apparent when her sales pitches fall on folks much like herself.
A low point finds her trading product for a cheap meal in a Chinese restaurant.

Beba is further alienated by her family - the daughter, Guillermina, who
goes to school in Madrid and times her telephone calls when only Dora will
be home, and the ex-husband Víctor (Marcos Mundstock), who is kind
but firm about his inability to support her. (In fact, a family photo
shows a young Guillermina standing with her hands placed on the seated shoulders
of Victor and Dora, which, when combined with failings learned later about
Dora's character, make one question just whose daughter she is.)

Dora eventually decides she has no option but to leave her unpaid position
and so heads to the country where she has been building a small home with
the boyfriend her boss disparages, Miguel (Raul Panguinao) (Beba prefers
her own building's janitor, Luisito, for Dora, but her motives seem transparent.
Gaggero's writing is not so obvious, however.) The seven months wages
she has finally received (Victor had convinced Beba to sell her cherished
gold earrings) will buy the 'classy' flooring she covets. But Dora's
life without Beba is not what she anticipated and when Beba finally moves
to humbler lodging in the city, a kindly act suggests a new situation for
them both.

From the rooms and spaces which house the two women to the slow unraveling
of their history together, "Live In Maid" is a wonder of economic storytelling.
In a mere 83 minutes, Gaggero not only unfurls two complete lives before
us but shows us the intricate ties that bind them. What a find in Norma
Argentina, whose strength of character is shown in her bearing, who conveys
a range of emotion with a facial expression that never changes (one which
is Gaggero plays with comic subtlety when Beba's application of mud masque
makes Dora look like a native warrior), except for the hint of a smile as
she dances with Miguel. Aleandro is a coil of jittery anxiety, a somewhat
unlikable woman at first who makes us warm up to her as she tries what she
can to survive. That she holds up charade to the end is endearing
in Aleandro's hands.

"Live In Maid" is proof that the simple stuff of life can make for great
drama in the right hands. Jorge Gaggero's small film has great heart
and humanity without ever slipping into sentimentality.